Thursday, March 22, 2012

Stuff That Annoys Me

I've noticed myself pretty annoyed lately. Lots of stuff going on last week. Some things in Saudi just tip off my irritation. I'm going to have to rant to let some steam out. If you're easily offended and don't have a sense of humor, stop reading now PLEASE.

What really gets to me is the DUST. Seems like it's been here since January. The last sandstorm started Thursday and only cleared up yesterday. Weather was perfect, headed out to the desert for a nice outing, were supposed to take friends with us that haven't been out for many years and after five hours of preparations and driving all the way there. BOOM. Sandstorm hits. Great. And it wasn't the type of somehow barely tolerable-kind. Nope. It had to be the brain-blasting, bloodstream-invading, eye-quenching, hair-raising type of a hell of a sandstorm.

After two days I got my usual sandstorm headache aka BRAIN BLUR and was not able to think, breathe, sleep let alone write anything intelligent.
The house should be cleaned every hourly if you like to have it clear of this nasty ass stuff. The dust is so fine and sneaky it seeps through the apartment building's downstairs door, then sneaks in through our front door, makes its way through the living room door to reach the kitchen door and finally arrives at the cupboard door only to creep inside the freakin sealed (or so I thought) boxes. Can you believe the nerve of this stuff??
I HATE DUST.

What else.
No one gives a damn about where they live. Seriously sometimes I think people here just live in pink bubbles floating around, oblivious to the world around them. Who cares if the street outside your house is full of trash? Who cares if there's a river of stinky sewage flowing through your neighborhood from a leaking septic tank and it's causing multiple health and environmental risks to inhabitants? Who cares if there's a pile of crap and rocks outside your window? Who cares if I park my car sideways and take up three reserved spaces? Who cares if the roads are not lit properly causing accidents and who gives a damn if they build a power plant next to your neighborhood?
Answer: NO ONE CARES.

How about service.
You know like customer service?
Why is it impossible to find good customer service here? You would think with all this money and having hundreds of employees in one store that there would be at LEAST one person who knows something. But no. That's just too much to ask for. And how about when you want to return something and they give you just a plastic card instead of money back? And then you go all the way to the other shop it works in only to realize they FORGOT to charge it. That is like someone handing you an empty cardboard box when you thought you were in fact purchasing a coffee machine. And then when you go back to show them their mistake you are not allowed to even return the EMPTY BOX.

So you go back to the original store (which btw is H&M in this case) with your empty card and the guy has to do the whole thing over again. Then another customer service killer expert comes in and suddenly tells you in a very rude manner that the items you've just successfully returned, cannot suddenly be accepted anymore. Because of policy he says. The first customer service hero did not know. So now you end up being forced to take the things back as well as your pathetic few riyals on the ridiculous plastic card which at this point you want to shove up the managers pants. Off you go after spending three hours with this disservice. At home you realize the dimwit manager stole your receipt and the rest of the stuff on it cannot therefore be exchanged. EVER. What would H&M headquarters in Sweden for example say to this "service"?
Answer: They would fire these incompetent rude idiots.

That reminds me.
I was trying to bake some Finnish cinnamon rolls also known as pulla the other day for a visit. We didn't have milk. But only in Saudi does this become a huge logistical issue. Obviously I'm not allowed to drive. Not even going to start on that one. Second, there's no supermarkets nearby I could walk to. Third, people don't walk anywhere, not even a 30 meters distance can be done without a car so there's no sidewalks or safe areas to walk on, IF I had somewhere to walk to. Fourth, I don't have a driver so I need to sit at home like a duck waiting for my husband to bring the milk after work. But he forgot and had to go somewhere else.
SO now what? Pulla needs to be ready in few hours. My husband has genius idea, he orders the milk from the small store and the Indian moped dude brings it over to me. Problem #5. I have no cash. Husband says it's not an issue.
Ok so dude arrives at door. I open and see the milk on the ground in front of me. I confirm with him that they agreed husband will stop by later to pay for the milk. He had a sudden change of mind. No ma'm BIG problem! I say no problem! This goes on for a while. I start feeling desperate and decide to snatch the milk from the ground. As I reach for it he tries to take it from my hands which should be a huge no-no here, to touch a woman like that.

I panic and slam the door closed. OOPS. I just sort of stole milk. Meanwhile the dude goes crazy, bangs on the door, shouts and rings the doorbell for at least half an hour. For SIX riyals. He could be a psychopath killer and I have just set him off. Imagine the headlines: Finnish woman killed In Saudi over milk bottle.
I start baking and realize that just because they don't allow women to drive I just had to go through this crap. How utterly ridiculous.
Why are we not allowed to drive again? Why are women forced to be nearly killed rather than drive to the supermarket, HUH???

How about professionalism then? Unheard of mostly. Ever heard of Handy Manny? In Saudi they are called Handless Headless Mannies. No skills, no training, no English OR Arabic language skills, no respect for others stuff, no common sense whatsoever.

Take a look at these pics:

Ladies and gentleman this is professional Saudi service at its finest. Words cannot describe my irritation when I saw this in our new apartment.Did you blast it with dynamite?
Can someone pass me the rifle?
Have you not painted a freakin wall before? You're supposed to remove the nails and smooth out the holes, not paint around them! If you're painting in a room full of furniture at least cover it or better yet take it to the nearby empty room! Don't use furniture to climb and stand on and don't scratch it! Don't you have your own freakin ladder or something? And for the love of God don't place the dirty items on the sofa when you're done! Did you think it was placed there for your convenience! I bet you took a nap on it too! When you're done clean up and air the room!

Ugh. And then last but not least. Saudi postal services. What freakin SERVICES? Took you two months to send a couple of freakin postcards by EXPRESS mail to Finland. WAY TO GO. Yeah, I know why. You're too busy sampling all the chocolates and other candies and reading through the women's magazines on your sugar high. I bet you took those ripped off pages from my health magazine home.

Saudi professional thieves and terminators I would say! Every single time I get a package from Finland you must snatch something or destroy something in it. You think you're clever huh? You think I don't notice when you take out something that has an actual packing list to go with it? You bastards. How dare you open my long awaited special 300g Finnish chocolate bar and munch on it and then PUT IT BACK IN half-eaten?
And btw the last item you STOLE was not real gold you chocolate monster. It's kids play money. You thought I wouldn't know my sister sent me three bags instead of two? WRONG.
I hope you almost choked on the Finnish salty licorice when you thought it's chocolate. Next time at least get rid of the evidence and throw away the empty wrappers.
And look what you missed from my latest package!

See that there? WINE gum. You have just allowed something that says "WINE" into Saudi-Arabia! So much for the censorship! As we would say in Finland: "Break yourself into small pieces".

102 comments:

The sandstorm, here is a tip, a moistened towel under the doors helps in collecting the dust :D ...

Sewage problem, hmm, sorry can't help. Not familiar with the services in the kingdom. A gas mask might help :P

For the retailer problem (H&M), I think KSA should start something like what we have here. Called the consumer's right watch and a lot has changed since (to the good).

The milk, its sooooooo hilarious. Sorry, but the sarcasm in the post is funny "Finnish woman killed over milk bottle" :P. On a serious note, its very sad that major inconveniences could be prevented if women are allowed to drive.

KSA Post, I heard that this happens very often and they are not reliable. My Saudi friend sent a wedding dress to her sister from here (Canada) and it was returned, ripped and stained with a note saying that it was against the Shria to send such things to KSA. PS, the dress was 7,000 dollars.

Oh, can you post a recipe of those cinnamon roles? :D or maybe email them to me (email in the profile)

Wow! You've had quite a few days by the sound of it. Sandstorms are horrible and the dust does get everywhere, even up your nostrils. I hate the stuff. We used to suffer when a sandstorm would hit Baghdad, but there was no escaping it sadly. You just had to face the music (sand) later and keep cleaning :(

As for the drainage, that is disgusting, I suspect the only way you will ever solve that problem, particularly if its outside your house, is to grease someone's palms (ie money!)I am sure they would do it in a jiffy.

The Saudi post sounds exactly like what we had/have in Iraq. I remember my Grandmother and friends would sends us letters (which would be censored) magazines which would get stolen, chocolate was never worth sending as it would melt with the 50 degrees heat! And as for any other goodies, well they'd tend to "vanish" into thin air. Funny that.

Great post - once again, always a joy to read! Hope you have a happier, stress free week ahead!

I don't know if I should laugh or cry at this well put together post!! Sandstorm.. don't remind me.. a real killer to what was supposed to be an epic trip!!! ufff... the milk.. sorry.. I had LMAO again at it :P (Wasn't laughing at the time though.. you milk thief :P) Saudi Post.. aha... I don't trust them.. would rather pay an arm and a leg to get Aramex shop and ship to send me things... lol... the handy idiots work... I have enough crap that had happening t me (to this day).. that make me want to cry! I have a Jacuzzi in my washroom that does not work! we paid good money for it... and good money for it to be installed... NOT WORKING. The dishwasher is NOT WIRED RIGHT. SO I have it... and can't even use it till hubby gets around to having time to actually yell at the idiots who did a worthless job at it. my kitchen faucet was NOT done right. My ceramic tiles downstairs are so messed up, I get annoyed every time I have to clean them :( The list is long.. and every time i think of it I feel my head actually about to blow up... welcome to home ownership in Saudi! SO I will cry at the disaster that made your home unlivable for the next couple of weeks :( I hope things turn out better hon! But it's great that you let out some steam <3

I know I should not say this right now because you are annoyed by a lot of things but your post really made me laugh hard. Every time I return to visit my family in KSA, I want to pull my hair out of its roots. I mean, simple things can be done to fix major problems but everyone decides to turn their back and leave the mess for others. Once me and my brother were in the car driving in one lane one way road and there was a dumpster right in the middle and no one, not the police, or pedestrian or shopkeepers volunteered to move it an inch for the cars to pass. The longer I live outside of KSA, the more I notice these simple huge things that annoys me especially since we are supposed to be living in a rich country.. And I hope that when I finally return back for good I do not get used to these things because I want to try and change them and not complain about them..I learned how to drive in the US but I would never drive in KSA, not until all the men retake the driving test (they are the worst drivers in the world) and the roads and parking lots are fixed to fit the number of cars. I really wish that KSA would have a reliable public transportation system. Less traffic jams and less pollution and no need for males :)

It's good to vent your frustrations. I have to say the one thing I can say I truly hate is the dust that gets into the house, especially this past week. I have to dust off everything, not fun when you have a million other things to do :) I guess it doesn't help that I'm a clean freak.

I know what you mean about the customer service here, it can seriously make your blood boil. The best customer service I've seen here is at Jarir, they must treat their employees better or offer better training or something because other places can be a nightmare.

Like Om Lujain, we also go through the Aramex route for online shopping, and DHL for other things.

Reading your milk experience was funny, but it must of been scary at the time. Loved this post :)

Oman is slightly better. But only slightly. We do care where we live lol. My husband's Aunties fought the government over the right to put a welding shop in a family neighborhood. They're not supposed to here, so if they do, it's because of wasta and you have to counter wasta.

And when you find a skilled carpenter, plasterer, builder, plumber, electrician, you save their numbers in an address book and phone them every few weeks to make sure they still live here and remember to tell you if they change their phone numbers even if you arne't planning any projects or renos for years.

looooooooooooool Love it...I can see the steam coming from your ears!!! You Forgot to mention about the Pious Academic guy who wanted to sell his TV only to NON-MUSLIMS so that "He" does not get sin for the stuff they watch!!! lol Don't mention Saudi Mail Service in front of my HUSBND!... Last time someone sent him priority letter from Jedda, he had to go to the sorting facility and dig through 10 piles of MAIL to find it LOOOOOOOL , on top of it, the INDIAN lazy worker, asked him to PAY 10SAR if He wanted his help!! what a joke ....

Really praying for you Sister.Sometimes life is hard for us.Listen to my story: My brother (who tried to kill my mum and rape me) returned to my parents´home from the Finnish so called "hoitokoti" = a nursing home.No garantee of safety for the most beloved ones.This is the reality in Finland now.I hope I`d have the sewege problem.

I can totally relate to this !!! I too have had my mail opened,and had items taken.The customer service in Riyadh is not the greatest.I understand your frustration with H&M.I had a similar situation with returning a clothing item,that could not be returned,.I managed to sell the dress to someone else,for the exact price that i paid,for .In addition,I used to detest when the men would follow me around the store,and stare at me.I can recall a time when i was paying,for my groceries,and the man at the counter tried to touch my hand,i said to him,don't touch me,and this guy just laughed at me.From that day onward i decided to pay with my bank card,or lay the cash on the counter.

I have had men walk by me,and drop a piece of paper by my feet.I was like "what a dirty dog".I find that to be unattractive&classless,After that experience i would cover my hair&wear sunglasses on my face when heading out to the mall,

As,for the Handless,Headless Mannies, Hopefully something can be done about how your apartment has been left,this is just unacceptable.

Asalamualaykum sister, I just read your post. I know you directed the comment for Laylah but I just wanna say may Allah protect you and your family from those evil actions. Look after yourself and be careful because there are many situations here where I live also that have this happen... within families. Its so sad and disgusting because you would never think that it would happen in your OWN family but it does! But at the same time, its a test from Allah SWT and everything is ultimately good for the believer, even if it seems bad for us. Imagine the rewards you and your family will get for your patience insha Allah. May Allah help you find a way out from this problem and keep you safe.

Hope u have a better week Laylah! The milkman sounds like a psychopath what with the banging and shouting, how dare he!!!It is funny that u cannot drive there in KSA but want to drive whereas I hate driving even though I can and have a license here in KL (I have no patience with traffic).But in most cases,it is a necessity to just pop down to the market without waiting for dear hubby to come back from work!But the way I see men in KSA drive, I wouldn't want to get behind the wheels in any circumstances! Perfect maniacs and that is a lot coming from an Asian LOL!

OK great job! You just cleared up a huge question I had, so the Headache two days after the Dust Storm isn't just me! I was beginning to think I was the only one, and yes it's the worst headache I've ever had! Also "nice" to hear I'm not the only one who has things "stolen", "disappeared", from the mail, the laundry, etc...or "magically price increased" when I walk in the store! I've met some great Saudi friends here now, well educated and true friends. They've unhappily explained that although they believe this type of behavior is unethical, the men who do this type of thing don't feel that they are doing anything wrong because we're American and not Saudi. I asked if I was a Muslim convert would that change anything, and they replied probably not, you'd still be American. Can't believe that Government employee pilfering is tolerated based on nationality!

I'm so sorry to hear this!!How on earth did they allow him to return home?? Inhsallah everything will be ok despite these circumstances..I wish I could help somehow!

I hope my post does not give the impression that I'm a person who complains about little things, because I'm not like that at all..I just had too much piled up in such a short time. In reality my problems and annoyances are petty and nothing compared to real problems in the world.

Shimshim-We have tried complaining to the land owners and who else about it, the problem started few months ago, nothing has been done, nobody cares. My husband called all over the place no one will do anything.They just said if it's not fixed the land owner will get fined.Looks like they don't care about fines.Thank God we're moving out soon!

Hope-thanks for the refreshing and relaxing walk/wadi hanifa tour yesterday :)I can't believe Saudi post actually lets people off the street come into their facility and go through peoples mail like that! I mean in Finland that would be a crime, and your husband could have just took anything from there! What a joke indeed!!

Jean-it exist for EVERYONE. Saudis usually don't care as much for good customer service because I assume they never had a taste of anything else, so what you don't know of, you can't really miss can you??

Was it necessary to emphasize the word "indian" next to the word lazy in your post? What exactly were you trying to say when you emphasized on someone's nationality? You just end up looking like a racist person.

I'm sorry if you didn't mean anything by doing it , but that's how it came of as!

Annoyed-you have misunderstood, she meant to say that the guy was not even Saudi (as in more open to corruption) but of another nationality, in this case Indian. nothing against Indians,it's just very strange to find any non Saudi that would ask for bribery so bluntly here..

Stumbled upon your blog last week while I was googling something about ksa and since then Im hooked on your blog!

Im a malaysian living in Riyadh for the past 5 years and reading your post today really made me chuckled and yet at the same time I feel your pain! All these may sound humorous when we tell our friends back home but when you are experiencing it, you juz feel like killing somebody! hehehe...

Hope your days will be brighter when this sandstorm goes away! Maybe it makes everyone a little bit cranky and crazy :D

This is the culture and mindset that you agreed to and it is the environment that you wanted to raise your daughter in. Enjoy. :)

I am looking forward to a camping trip with the kids, family and some friends soon. We intend on all going out and enjoying the river, fishing, swimming, etc. All without the morality police, the women being able to be themselves not judged on how they are dressed as a means to define their worth, kids playing and hiking. Of course we can trade off driving when I get tired. We might even go kayacking and sightseeing which including walking in shorts down a street to stores, museums, and other activities. No one will think twice about the women folk not being all covered head to toe as their worth is greater than cloth (not meat) and the men are capable of controlling themselves (not dogs). We also intend to go to some restraunts with other people who are willing to share themselves openly, and some may engage in conversations so that we might share diffences and get to know each other in manner that opens good clean dialogues between men, women and children. You know that social interaction that states that people are more than the the sum of their sex parts. In a nice open friendly non-segregated way.

Annoyed: Sorry to annoy u .. That was my not intention at all, I didn't even notice i had the word Indian all caps.. The worker couldve been Arab , Pilipino, or bangledish.. That wasn't the point of my story...Like Layla said my point is be wasn't even Saudi.. It's just annoying that workers are never trained in Saudi... Theyunprofessional incompetent.. Plus management is not existent..everything here is unprofessional! Hope

You know you live in a Finnish town, albeit Fitchburg, MA, when you can buy home-made pulla at any gas station. That's right, all the Finnish mamas here bake pulla, and the gas stations let them sell their fragrant wares right at the registers. Next time you need something Finnish, just ask me to send it to you from my hometown!

Oh, and as usual, you have SISU! You will prevail, over sand and ignorance, on any given day! xoxo!

Bigstick I wonder what you want to really say with this comment. I think you have just made a fool out of yourself here. Even If you were trying to be sarcastic then you FAILED miserably. You end up looking pretty ignorant about Saudi, which I already knew you are in some aspects or then you just refuse to see the truth.

Gloating at someones misfortune or whatever you call it is just tasteless.Have some class man.I haven't deleted any of your posts even if we disagreed on things, but you were always respectful toward me. I wouldn't call this comment respectful in any way.

Bigstick, mocking someone on their decision to raise their daughter in any country and culture shows your extremist,fundamentalist, militant attitude.you are extremely rude, and unaware that this blog opens up a whole new outlook of life among Saudis, Muslims, culture, religion and life in general. You love to twist and turn every topic into a religion-bashing, culture-ridiculing and lifestyle-mocking rambling rant! If I were you, I would change my attitude 360 degrees and learn to stick to the topic and be more respecting towards other people.

If Laylah's blog is so concerning to you then I do not see why you need to be here. No one is forcing you to read it and get upset, so if that is whats happening just leave the blog. Its that simple.I feel like that is a better solution than repeatedly leaving condescending and inflammatory remarks, especially when theyre aimed at the owner of this blog.Of course if you want to stay and voice your opinions, that's fine too, but perhaps you should try and be a little less disrespectful towards Laylah the next time you comment on one of her posts rather than just trying to show how "superior" you and your life choices are compared to hers.

Ashley, bigstick1 has just got some knickers in a twist and despises the fact that the majority of Laylah's readers are Muslim women who are actually cool with Islam and cool with what Laylah says in this blog. We are h-a-p-p-y to be Muslim women and bigstick1 is just trying to be a party pooper. This is one party that no one wants you at if you're going to be rude bigstick1.

Laylah, you must have Egyptian men working there. I have same kind of mess here after what ever things we had to get fixed or built :DSame problem also with postal services here. Or we have even worse. Usually you get nothing at all what's been sent to you. Alhamdulillah you got you wine gums at least.

BTW I never use milk when I make pulla. I make it in water and you can't taste any difference. Just try it next time when you don't have milk.

Bigstick get over that one comment already sheesh man don't you have anything else to refer to? You were being so stubborn I thought that saying things simply in a metaphore would help but obviously it did the opposite since you misunderstood just about everything I wanted to say. But perhaps it was on purpose..

I've been in KSA for a couple of months now, trying to set my household as a working single mother and I could have written this! I have shops withing walking distance, but the 'handymen' ARRRRGH! So your venting could have been mine :) Great blog, by the way, and want pulla now!

..just read bigstick1's comments...man u got issues..seriously..especially the last comment.. u sound like those freaky stalkers that just don't go away and always have dramatic words to end on. An educated/cultured/open minded person can voice their opinion and give their POV even if its not the same as the bloggers..unlike you who made yourself look like a fool!Thanks for leaving this blog you shall not be missed!#Morena

That is so incredibly unbelievable. It makes me so happy to live in the USA when I hear these things. I cant believe the mailmen opened your packages and ate things!! Thats a felony here! I just cant even believe it.

I've had my mail opened and eaten. I only ship through ARamex now generally. It still goes through customs- but I think they are more careful with ARamex because there is someone to follow through with complaints.

Many people are boycotting the Al Shaya stores because of their stupid no refund policies. There's even a Facebook group. But they are all the best stores- so I try to to get only what I must. I don't want to make my own life harder either. It's a fine balance.

i had to laugh at your story of you "stealing" the milk! :) in december i sent my husband a box to riyadh via ups, and it had some cake pops that i had made for him. a few got eaten at customs. but i guess that's a small price to pay for not having them all confiscated, since they were in the shapes of christmas trees and snowmen. anyway, i hope they liked my baking. and i hope i can try pulla sometime!

This sandstorm hit everywhere but as I understand it's MUCH better dust wise in Jeddah. But if anything is going to get to you, its the humidity. So you have to choose between the dust and Riyadh or Jeddah and the killer humidity lol

we've actually had lots of christmas-themed things get through--a spongebob stocking, gifts wrapped in christmas paper, candy canes. we'd never had anything taken until that incident. and then in february, i sent him a valentine's box. it was chock full of valentine's themed things; everything had red hearts, be my valentine, etc. on it. the only thing that got taken at customs was the card. :(

nicole- that's interesting! Saudis LOVE spongebob so he will always get through. They sell candy canes here. I dont think they know its a christmas thing!But your valentines box wow was there anything edible in that one?

I can totally relate. I lived in Madinah for sometime and although overall our experience was good and enjoyable some things just didn't make sense!I was more patient with bad customer services and things like that, but my husband on the other hand just had enough. Maybe because he dealt with more people and services than I ever did so it's no wonder he doesn't seem to ever want to return...as much as I'd like to!

yes, some heart-shaped marshmallows and a big chocolate chip cookie in a heart tin. :) a few books, some valentine's-themed angry birds boxer shorts (overshare? sorry, lol!), and his favorite easter candy, hershey's marshmallow eggs. couldn't understand why they'd let all the heart stuff through (easter stuff too, but like you said, they probably didn't know that's what it was) and just take the card! husband was pretty upset about losing the card; he called ups to complain and try to get it back. of course, they said it had been thrown away by then.

I'm going to begin to photograph all the cars here in Fitchburg that have "SISU" bumper stickers on their car. I was thinking of putting one on mine in order to fit in.

I haven't made pulla yet because there are so many good Finnish breads and cooking around town that my attempt would be futile. You can buy Finnish products at our grocery stores - that's how large a Finnish population we have here! And my house was built by Finns, as you know, and I own a sauna. It's right next to the 40K gallon pool in the back yard! LOL!

Maybe, with your guidance, I'll make my own Finnish foods along with Armenian foods for Easter...

It is amazing how foreigners married to Saudis feel the same way and struggle with the same issues...though I would add the NIGHTMARE that can be to have a maid...it is killing me! You should also write about it...best regards.Maria

I've just found your blog and this post is RIGHT ON! We've been living in Saudi for about 13 years now, and even though our experience is a bit different (not married to a Saudi), these irritants drive me insane too! If it's alright I'm going to link to this on my Facebook page, my other expat friends will love you!All the best and happy RamadanKaren Brown

Lol, funny. Hope everything is okay now. I'm from England and actually envious of you living in Saudi. We would take any oppurtunity to live there in Makkah or Madinah.Do not take it for granted. This is an oppurtunity of a lifetime for some people.Here in England we have a lot of Islamic education alhamdulillah so we get taught a lot about Islam and stuff so we really take up these oppurtunities when we visit KSA.All the best for your new home!

P.s. My cousin and her family live in Madinah and they enjoy it a lot there. Why don't you move there too?

lovd your post. i wonder if there are educational solutions to many of the issues you raise regarding integrity and also sense of civic pride/duty. Are you aware of Ahmad Shugairy? he has an interesting tv show and website, based on his interesting attitude of trying to bring about improvements to Saudi and Arabic societies. do check him out.

thank you for responding to my comment Laylah!He has a website called Ihsaan to sponsor projects that are about reviving the true spirit of Islam through real actions such as volunteering, creating spaces that are wheel-chair accessible, educational projects, service to the poor, - all by encouraging regular people themselves to start such things - he is not a director of all these projects, just someone who wants to inspire them...so it's a decentralized thing but quite empowring. He has a cafe in Jeddah for young people, and he is the host of the program "Khawater" - there are many episodes on youtube- including with subtitles - here is one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJssZ1ayDr0

here you can read an article in the American press about him: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/03/world/middleeast/03preacher.html?pagewanted=all

i just really think you and him would have many same ideas; by the way, he did visit Denmark, a Scandinavian country, and i think he even went to Finland and he did some Khawater shows on that experience (search Youtube for Khawater 7) it was really neat.http://www.waleg.com/archives/024043.html

This is the awesomest rant I have ever read! Lol! Maybe because I can relate to every word literally. This makes me think if they are "already" like this (their ways and attitudes) even before expats came in?? If YES, is there a hope for the future? If NO, umm... let's just go back to "YES". LOL! Just like today, I forgot to remind my husband to get a drinking water yesterday since we are almost out, and today we are really out. I am waiting for him right now to get home from work to buy some. Fortunately, I always have 1L of drinking water in case of emergencies like this. And there are a lot of different kinds of emergencies like this here that are not emergencies where I am from. Lessons learned from my 5yrs (hubby 10yrs) experience here: Always have cash in your wallet, your passport, Iqamah and cellphone must be always accessible to you. And you are soo right for pointing out that these mishaps could have been avoided only if people here have COMMON SENSE. I guess it's not too common here in Saudi after all.

OMG There's so many reasons as to why I love this post! Firstly it's because I just got to know that my uni application which I and my 2 other friends spent 1,000 dollars each didn't even get processed. How irresponsible and un-islamic to say the least! Not only that, we were asked for our ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS and we sent it via DHL which is safe, thank God, but what's worrying is their service down there. Because I need it to be courier-ed back here to Malaysia and i dont know how many decades that'll take. Now I'm stuck with no uni to go to and a very bad impression of Saudi. I'm from Singapore you see, and I'm used to efficient systems. I think a good reason why I didnt get the uni offer is also because God knows I'd choke living in the KSA.. I was in Riyadh earlier this January, loved and hated it. Came back here and snapped back to reality. I'm a volunteer, a social activist when I can. I realised that when I was in Saudi, you're blinded by the world's suffering. You're too comfortable in your comfort zone. And urgh the fact that you cannot drive drives me literally insane. And I cannot wrap my head around saudi nationalism that is so widespread. No surprises there. Alright end of rant. I enjoyed this post, Layla! I hope you feel better <3

I am just about to move to Saudi and read this page. Very interesting and I was actually crying with laughter at your last bit about the postal service. I guess when you get annoyed like this the only thing you can do is laugh! Thank you for helping me prepare for life in Saudi.